Aperture Apocalypse
by yellow.hiccuping.dustbunny
Summary: Before Portal, Chell still spent a lot of her time testing. These are the days leading up to the Aperture Apocalypse.
1. 6 Days

APERTURE APOCOLYPSE

6 Days Prior: Aperture and Chell

"Hiya, Chell," said a blond man with blue eyes as he sat down next to her in the cafeteria. The eight-year-oldgirl didn't move out of her slouched position. The only sign of recognition that she gave was to raise the corners of her mouth. Slightly.

"How was testing today?" He asked, purposely not giving a 'yes or no' question.

She wouldn't if she didn't have to. He would have blamed it on her mother's passing, but this silence had started before that, when she had been brought to Aperture Facilities. It wasn't that she was too distracted to form words but too… focused to bother. She always seemed to be waiting for the next challenge.

"Fine," she briefly answered his question. That was a lie. Chell was_ fantastic_ at her tests. He had seen her files. He had watched once. It was the most relaxed that he had ever seen her.

The man grimaced. She had been more relaxed while testing than she had ever been around him…

_Dr. Piron, you are needed in the biology lab. Dr. Piron, please report to the biology lab._

Chell raised an eyebrow at her father, Dr. Piron, who was not a biologist, but an engineer.

He smiled at her incredulous look. "The biologists are working with the engineers to help with 'you-know-who-."

Chell gave a brief nod, acknowledging that she understood his message.

Four other men in lab coats approached their table. Chell easily recognized them. They were other engineers in Chell's lunch period. They always sat at the same table, in the same seats, eating the same food, never talking, always taking notes.

"Ready for the big day, Dr. Piron? They finally think that they have the Core Project complete," one commented, showing no facial expressions. The others gave haphazard smiles, as if they weren't really sure how to do it anymore.

Chell was suppressing laughter. It was easy for Dr. Piron to see why. They all looked like robots, sharing the same brain. Knowing Aperture, they very well could be.

He turned to wink at Chell. "Yup, let's knock 'em dead." The other four winced at his less than eloquent wording.

"See you tomorrow?" he asked quickly.

Nod.

"Well, wish me luck."

Shake, but with a smile. She was telling him that he didn't need it.

"Goodbye, Chell," he said, adding a hug to the message. She didn't say anything in response. Internally sighing, he turned to walk away.

"Goodbye, Dad."

He turned back and grinned at her. Maybe things were going to be easier now…

**AN: I don't own Portal. **

**My friends keep telling me that I should do something with this. We'll see if I can make this work out. I don't know if this has been done before or not… **


	2. 5 Days

5 Days Prior: Dead Batteries

Chell was waiting for her father to arrive in the cafeteria. She wanted to know why he never showed up yesterday for dinner, and what exactly happened at his latest experiment.

She looked over at the other 'robot' engineers. They were still sitting in their correct spots, at the correct time, yet… they weren't eating or writing. They still weren't talking, but they were usually continuing their projects through their lunch break instead of looking… afraid.

Chell wondered if their batteries were dead.

Dead batteries. That must be it.

She went back to staring at the door, waiting for her father. As strange as he was, she didn't want to lose him. He was one of the few people who would talk to her.

After her mother died, her father had to take double shifts to replace hers. He said that there were two options: the family would be separated, or she could volunteer at Aperture.

She had already spent a good deal of her childhood at Aperture, and either way, she would have refused to let her family be separated.

_Dr. Blaise, you are needed in the biology lab, Dr. Blaise, please report to the biology lab. _

Chell heard a shuddering gasp to her right. Even without turning, she could see one of the robot engineers hunch over and make odd whimpering noises. All of the other engineers looked at him with ill-suppressed fear.

"I-I g-guess this is it, th-then…" the shuddering engineer said. He stumbled to his feet, and the rest followed suit.

None of them even glanced at Chell.

Chell blinked and tried not to think what this new development meant for her father.

She glared over her untouched food at the door, as if sheer willpower could fix the situation.


	3. 4 Days

4 Days Prior: New Variables

Chell was waiting for her father.

Again.

Chell wasn't eating.

Again.

The engineers were trapped in a horrified silence.

Again.

Well, to be more accurate, that remained were oddly silent. The upset one from before never came back.

It seemed like everything that had always been a constant in Chell's life were now loose variables.

She pulled out a picture. The creases in the picture were white and craggy from being folded so much. It was a picture of her family. Her eyes were drawn towards the back of the photo, where her parents stood. They were two, perfect smiling blondes.

She was the opposite.

_Dr. Olson, you are needed in the biology lab, Dr. Olson please report to the biology lab._

The world was falling to pieces around them, but only Chell seemed to notice the variables changing. Everything was slipping off of its weakened foundation.

Her family wasn't returning.

Even the engineers were silent as they walked away from their uneaten food with one, presumably Dr. Olson, shaking in fear.

They accepted their new variable.

Chell could as well.

She stood up and threw her uneaten food away as she left the cafeteria.

It was a new variable.

**AN: Kinda depressing right now, but think about it. It ends with pretty much everyone dying by neurotoxin (or any of GLaDOS' other methods). Anyways, there IS more dialogue in the next chapter.**


	4. 3 Days

3 Days Prior: Apple

Chell firmly sat in her spot and glared at the door.

Or, at least, as firmly as any half-starved child could be. They had even served fruit today, instead of a side of beans. She didn't _dislike_ beans, she just liked apples more.

Not like those details mattered anymore.

She wasn't going to eat either of them.

"Hi!" a cheerful voice came from her right. At least it wasn't coming from her left. That was where her _father_ was supposed to sit, and this was DEFINITELY not her father.

Chell turned her head slightly to the right to acknowledge his arrival at the table. It was enough for him.

"I couldn't help but notice-not that I was watching you or something! I'm not a stalker! Well, I suppose that noticing does entail some watching, but I wasn't being creepy about it…" Chell raise an eyebrow, waiting for this strange man to get to his point. "Well, I couldn't help but casually, occasionally observing that you haven't been eating. Anything. At all."

Chell examined the man closer. A scientist that could see past his own notes! He had reddish-brown hair, unlike any color she could remember seeing here in Aperture. He also had blue eyes, almost like her parents' eyes.

"So I was just thinking that you should eat something," he finished, looking down at Chell's table. He picked up her apple. "Here! Eat this apple! C'mon, just eat something… If you don't, I'll have to take you down to the hospital. They won't bother spoon-feeding you there. They'll just stick some tubes in you and pump it straight into your stomach…"

He looked hesitantly at Chell, waiting for a response as he held the apple out to her. After a few moments, he stood. "All right, then." He was incredibly tall. Maybe she was simply short (she was just a child after all), but he seemed to be a giant.

That didn't make it any harder for her to reach out and snatch the apple from his hand. He stopped moving and stared at her hopefully.

Chell pressed her lips together just thinking about the apple. Her mind wanted to reject the food, simply to prove a point. Her body, however, desperately wanted it. On top of craving the apple, she didn't especially want to visit Aperture's hospital

She bit into the apple.

The scientist broke into a huge smile and sat back down. "Thank God- I thought that I was going to have to shove food down your throat. Or carry you down to the hospital. My name is Dr. Stevens… What's-"

_Dr. Lawson, you are needed in the biology lab, Dr. Lawson please report to the biology lab._

Dr. Stevens remained oddly quiet as Dr. Lawson passed by quaking and whimpering. He was followed by the last wide-eyed engineer.

"What's your name?" He asked after another moment's hesitation.

Chell remained silent as she tried to process this new stranger into her life.

It looked like he had just about given up on a response when she opened her mouth.

"Chell."


End file.
